The changing environmental context and the relevancy of existing leadership models

Abstract:

Owing to the shifts taking place in both the external and internal business
environments, leaders today find it increasingly difficult to sustain a competitive
edge in the marketplace. The South African financial services industry, within
which the target organisations of this study fell, is also strongly affected by
these trends. Some of these trends are increasing competition in a globalising
world, the knowledgeable, globalised customer of today who demands lower
cost, innovative and quality products or services which are personalised and
individualised, which in turn requires cutting-edge knowledge and technology;
the diverse knowledge worker and the virtual workplace and organisation of
the future. The imperative to organisations in identifying and developing their
leaders to drive the sustainability, the profitability and the overallcompetitiveness of their organisation have become major challenges of the
21st century.
In the process of trying to make sense of the complex environmental context
and the growing demands of the competitive business environment, the
question as to whether the existing leadership models are still a relevant to the
21st century work environment came the fore. The purpose of the study thus
was born out of trying to understand, to make sense of and anticipate the
impact of the changing environmental context on leadership. The intention was
to find an answer to the effects of this environmental context on existing
leadership models and vice versa.